According to Allan #6

Since returning from our West Coast trip, Nancy and I have been to a number of races. In late June we went to the recently reopened Tri-City Motor Speedway in Auburn, Michigan. The track used to be called the “trick track” because of its unusual shape. It had five distinct corners. I had visited the old ½ mile paved track on three occasions in the past, but the facility had been shut down for a number of years. The former promoter was in the process of converting it to a ¼ mile dirt track when he ran out of money.

The Puvalowski brothers came along and finished the job, but did a major revamp job compared to the original idea. The first dirt track was in front of the old grandstands. The new owners plowed that track back flat and moved the grandstands to the back straight of the ½ mile and put the new configuration in front of the new stands. This move made sense as before the spectators looked into the sun. Now the evening sun is behind your back.

A decent crowd of about a thousand people watched as five classes of cars raced on the new banked dirt track. At the end of the night Joe Swanson ended up winning his first ever Late Model feature by holding off young Kris Patterson Jr.

The next day we headed to the resort town of Frankenmuth, where we walked thru some of the touristy shops and also rode the paddle wheel boat up the river. That night we then headed north to Owendale Speedway. This was first visit to that track in nearly 30 years. It is the last remaining oval track in Michigan’s thumb area. Tonight the headline class was the ASCS/SOD Sprints. The track is a typical ¼ mile dirt track. The grandstands face south, with the pits off the back straight. Another decent crowd was treated to good racing. It was good to see Indiana’s Brett Mann win the feature. He held off Dustin Daggett for the sprint car main event.

A few weeks later we headed to Indiana for the some nights of USAC Sprint week. Seven races at seven tracks make up the annual Sprint week. An average of about 40 cars is usual for each night. Our first stop was at Terre Haute. The races on big ½ mile were very competitive. At the end of the night it was Chris Windom in victory lane.

The next day we headed southeast to Brownstown

Speedway. The track is best known as a Late Model track but once a year USAC invades the ¼ mile dirt track and the sprint car races are always entertaining. A great field of cars greeted the fans once again. At the end of the night we watched a young fellow win his first ever USAC Sprint Car race, Kyle Riggs held off the likes of Dave Darland, and Jon Stanbrough for the victory.

The next day we dropped off the USAC series to go to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in southeast Indiana for a MTQRL TQ Midget event.

The next afternoon found the Chariot stopping at the Crawford County Fairgrounds for a MAORA off-road event. Mike Lucas and his son Kyle Lucas were the big winners on the dirt road course that was about a mile in length.

That night we continued west to Haubstad, Indiana and on the final night of the USAC Sprint Week. The racing was tight on the ¼ mile high banked dirt track called Tri-State Speedway and it was Damion Gardner holding off the rest of the competitors to win his first USAC show of the year. With consistent top finishes Chris Windom ended the overall USAC Sprint Week champion. Windom has had a tremendous season as one of the big shows he won was the “Little 500” at Anderson Speedway earlier in the year.

A couple of weeks ago we ventured up to Cherry Raceway near Traverse City, Michigan for their first ever Michigan Dirt cup modified event. A decent

field of 40 mods treated the fans to some great three and four wide racing. Local standout

Last weekend we headed to Winston Speedway in Rothbury for another ASCS/SOD Sprint car show. This time the tables were turned and it was Dustin Daggett winning over Brett Mann.

The next day we headed north to the

Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is affectionately known as the U.P. by most people. We head to the U.P. for a couple weeks of vacation each year. We take the motor home and stay at parks along Lake Superior. While we’re there we can find plenty to occupy our time. Between Agate hunting on the shore, to kayaking, to swimming, to golfing, to watching the ships go thru.

Next week we’ll be going to Bark River for the TORC Off-Road Series, then Labor Day weekend it’s off to Minnesota for the SCCA Trans-Am at the Brainerd road course.